I was gonna post this. It's the one that sticks out the most to me, though it's not a given that Martin would have beaten Kraijeck.

Click to expand...

For sure. Krajicek was playing at an incredible level. But Martin would've been a tougher opponent than Washington, I think. His serve would have kept him in the match and would have made it more competitive.

Old School Candidates: Novotna, no, not the well known one at Wimbledon vs Graf, I'm talking about her match at the Dirtball Open, she was up 5-0, forty love to Chanda Rubin in the 3rd set, and lost. Afterwards, she wailed, "I just never felt comfortable in the 3rd set." 5-0, forty-love?????????????

Vilas vs Orantes, '75 US Open(on har-tru), up 2 sets to 1, 5-0, love forty, blew those 3 match points, and 2 more for good measure.

In modern times Al-MUG-rat is clearly the winner, vs Ferrer at the AO this year or his hideous melt down at the AO, take your pick.

Old School Candidates: Novotna, no, not the well known one at Wimbledon vs Graf, she was up 5-0, forty love to Chanda Rubin in the 3rd set, and lost. Afterwards, she wailed, "I just never felt comfortable in the 3rd set." 5-0, forty-love?????????????

Vilas vs Orantes, '75 US Open(on har-tru), up 2 sets to 1, 5-0, love forty, blew those 3 match points, and 2 more for good measure.

In modern times Al-MUG-rat is clearly the winner, vs Ferrer at the AO this year or his hideous melt down at the AO, take your pick.

Oh, yeah, that's definitely a candidate, had forgotten about it. The thing is, there is choking in a situation, and choking in the situation and the point itself: Somewhere I have a VCR tape(lol) of the Rubin-Novtna match, and on the match points, I don't think Notvtna blew any easy shots, if memory serves, Rubin either hit outright winners or induced "forced" errors. I have no idea of the nature of the points that Vilas lost against Orantes, only the situation. People who say that Fed choked against Nole are, IMO, clueless. If you a good, deep serve and the opponents hits a screaming winner off of it, hey, tip your hat, that's just too good. But for choking a shot, Rod-D.ick had a set point at Wimbledon against Fed in the tiebreaker(which would've put him up 2 sets to none), and, first of all, hit a ball that was probably sailing out, he foolishly played it, and hit it out by a ton. That's, like, two, two, TWO chokes in one! Sadly, Nole choked badly on BP's between the leg shot in their match last Sunday, too, not to mention hitting the net on a gimme.

Federer joker us open....after three match points Joker hits a blistering return.
Fed double faults and loses the next 17 out of 21 points

Fed Nadal AO....fifth set Fed fall apart loses 6-2 and cries .

Click to expand...

BP at the 2012 AO, up 4-2 in the 5th and 30-15, has a easy floater to put away and go up 40-15, but he gagged horribly, lost the game, and lost almost every game thereafter to lose the set and the match. (Insert long and loud gagging noise...)

The video isn't very good, but here you go. You can judge for yourself.

Click to expand...

"Isn't very good" is an understatement at the beginning, I can barely discern that there are two tennis players on the screen, let alone the ball, but then it clears up quite a bit and it's interesting to note the following:

Down 0-40, triple match point, Orantes plays serve and volley, on Hard-Tru, vs Vilas, and repeats that at 15-40! COJANES(sic) GRANDE, lol! He did NOT do so on the third, but when Vilas hit one of those disgusting moon balls that are so prevalent on dirt, Orantes snuck in while he was doing so and took the initiative and put away an overhead. The last 2 match points were on Vilas' serve, on the first, Orantes while in a non-descript rally, hits a forcing shot and Vilas couldn't handle it. The fifth and final match point is a Gag Job, pure and simple: Vilas has the initiative and forces Orantes to throw up a lob that was THISCLOSE to being out, you can almost see Vilas begging, PLEASE go out and let me win the match. Unfortunately for him, it fell in, and then he unleashed the wimpy, punk ***, my-balls-have-shrunken-to-the-size-of-castanettes shot-he's afraid to hit an overhead, instead hitting it as a ground stroke-and got the result that such a move deserved.

Ugh, Kriek was bad, he was, like a terminally ill patient asking how many days(sets) do I have doc, and eventually, the answer was, none. Hey, throw in Mevedev giving away the Dirtball to Baldy in '99, RETCH!

Wasn't the 2nd match point a rally where Fed hit the top of the tape and it went wide of the tramlines?

Click to expand...

Yup.

The 09 AO was probably the worst. Almost all of the GS matches between Fed and Nadal have been close. The problem is, Nadal is a much better pressure player than Fed. Fed either gassed or choked. Either way he was playing great and had no business losing the match. Nadal did play great though also, so it wasn't like he didn't deserve it.

"Isn't very good" is an understatement at the beginning, I can barely discern that there are two tennis players on the screen, let alone the ball, but then it clears up quite a bit and it's interesting to note the following:

Down 0-40, triple match point, Orantes plays serve and volley, on Hard-Tru, vs Vilas, and repeats that at 15-40! COJANES(sic) GRANDE, lol! He did NOT do so on the third, but when Vilas hit one of those disgusting moon balls that are so prevalent on dirt, Orantes snuck in while he was doing so and took the initiative and put away an overhead. The last 2 match points were on Vilas' serve, on the first, Orantes while in a non-descript rally, hits a forcing shot and Vilas couldn't handle it. The fifth and final match point is a Gag Job, pure and simple: Vilas has the initiative and forces Orantes to throw up a lob that was THISCLOSE to being out, you can almost see Vilas begging, PLEASE go out and let me win the match. Unfortunately for him, it fell in, and then he unleashed the wimpy, punk ***, my-balls-have-shrunken-to-the-size-of-castanettes shot-he's afraid to hit an overhead, instead hitting it as a ground stroke-and got the result that such a move deserved.

Thanks for digging up that tape.

Click to expand...

Certainly a good combination of both Vilas' wimpiness and Orantes' clutch play. And you're welcome.

Not sure about the guys but Jana Novotna (1993 Wimbledon) is the Queen of the Choke (sorry Jana)

Click to expand...

Novotna for sure is a queen of choke However and that has already been said, the Sabatini / Fernandez in RG 1993 is probably the most infamous choke ever, leading 6/1-5/1 and missing 5 match points before losing .

Althoug I have always been a big fan of Sabatini (who finally managed to beat Graf in a grand slam final) she was well know for his choking ability, including another (!!) match where she was also cruising 6-1, 5-1, against Kimiko Date in Miami 1995 and managed to loose again, no kidding.

I think leading twice 6-1 5-1 with match points in two years and managing to lose makes Gaby the real Queen of choke unfortunately :lol:

Priceless extract from the SunSentinel at the time:

"Sabatini Is Shattered By Deja Vu Defeat
March 24, 1995|By CHARLES BRICKER Staff Writer
MIAMI — As soon as Gabriela Sabatini blew the second set, the ghastly memory of the 1993 French Open semifinal settled over the stadium court at Lipton like some horrible curse.

It was as if it was ordained that that dark, awful day in her life would repeat itself with a new opponent and a new venue.

How could this happen again with such extraordinary coincidence? Was it to be some lifetime penance for failing to live up to her potential?

Sabatini stood at 6-1, 5-1 Thursday afternoon, a few strokes from an appointment with Steffi Graf in the final, and she was flying through Kimiko Date, who was playing painfully through a badly-strained rotator cuff in her right shoulder.

And then it was 5-2 and 5-3. And 5-5. And then Sabatini was holding two match points at 6-5 and couldn't cash them. Now they were into the tiebreak, which Date won 7-2, and immediately they staggered into the final set, exchanging so many unforced errors that the match became a statistical nightmare.

Sabatini was to have one more match point, at 5-3, failed again, and Date won 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4)."

Novotna for sure is a queen of choke However and that has already been said, the Sabatini / Fernandez in RG 1993 is probably the most infamous choke ever, leading 6/1-5/1 and missing 5 match points before losing .

Althoug I have always been a big fan of Sabatini (who finally managed to beat Graf in a grand slam final) she was well know for his choking ability, including another (!!) match where she was also cruising 6-1, 5-1, against Kimiko Date in Miami 1995 and managed to loose again, no kidding.

I think leading twice 6-1 5-1 with match points in two years and managing to lose makes Gaby the real Queen of choke unfortunately :lol:

Priceless extract from the SunSentinel at the time:

"Sabatini Is Shattered By Deja Vu Defeat
March 24, 1995|By CHARLES BRICKER Staff Writer
MIAMI — As soon as Gabriela Sabatini blew the second set, the ghastly memory of the 1993 French Open semifinal settled over the stadium court at Lipton like some horrible curse.

It was as if it was ordained that that dark, awful day in her life would repeat itself with a new opponent and a new venue.

How could this happen again with such extraordinary coincidence? Was it to be some lifetime penance for failing to live up to her potential?

Sabatini stood at 6-1, 5-1 Thursday afternoon, a few strokes from an appointment with Steffi Graf in the final, and she was flying through Kimiko Date, who was playing painfully through a badly-strained rotator cuff in her right shoulder.

And then it was 5-2 and 5-3. And 5-5. And then Sabatini was holding two match points at 6-5 and couldn't cash them. Now they were into the tiebreak, which Date won 7-2, and immediately they staggered into the final set, exchanging so many unforced errors that the match became a statistical nightmare.

Sabatini was to have one more match point, at 5-3, failed again, and Date won 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4)."

Click to expand...

Hahaha. My god, I didn't know about the Date match. That's terrible. The 1991 Wimbledon final was also a difficult moment for Sabatini fans. I'm not sure if she choked though.

So much lol. Fed should have finished Nadal in 3 at the AO final. He was the better player in the first 4 sets, won more points, had more BPs. By the end of the 4th Nadal looked like a beaten man and Fed had all the momentum, and he choked it out. He knew that he did, he knew he gave it away, therefore he also cried.

Click to expand...

It's funny that you are the first one to blame that loss on choking.
If he was the better player in the 4 sets he shouldve won. He chocked(if it all) in the 5th. You are kidding me right, choking is done on the crucial moments, mostly during the later stages of the match, not during the initial sets. Fed cried because he realized that Nadal was now better than him on all surfaces and he couldnt do anything about it. (It's a pity Nadal was injured during most of the rest of the season, Fed didnt deserve to win RG)

I don't know dude. The 10,11 USO to Djokovic was choking. Had multiple MP's and couldn't convert. The guy hits winners almost at will and started playing pattycake during those points. It was so heartbreaking to see a champion falter like that.

Click to expand...

I mean at '10 USO, Nole was the one who actually saved the match points with some huge FHs. fed played well and Nole found another level.
The '11 USO was where it gets really tricky. One the one hand Fed missed an easy FH on the 2nd match point. OTOH, Nole raised his level after those match points. Difficult to say conclusively if it was a choke

The biggest tennis choke for me was in my sophomore year of high school, when I played against a very powerful, tall, big player with a kick serve that went way over me. Somehow I managed to get a 6-0, 3-0 lead while feeling that I was being slightly outplayed, then he went ahead and beat me like 6-4, 7-5 after that. ??? lol

Ugh, Kriek was bad, he was, like a terminally ill patient asking how many days(sets) do I have doc, and eventually, the answer was, none. Hey, throw in Mevedev giving away the Dirtball to Baldy in '99, RETCH!

Click to expand...

True, he was
And Medvy blew it away while he was clobbering Agassi
He is one of the biggest underachievers

True, he was
And Medvy blew it away while he was clobbering Agassi
He is one of the biggest underachievers

Click to expand...

Had Medvedev maintained the form of the first two sets (which was the form he'd been showing throughout the tournament) he would have won easily. But he didn't. Agassi won playing an inferior game to Medvedev's, in my opinion.

Federer joker us open....after three match points Joker hits a blistering return.
Fed double faults and loses the next 17 out of 21 points

Fed Nadal AO....fifth set Fed fall apart loses 6-2 and cries .

Click to expand...

Have you ever seen a match of Roger? You speak so authentically but you are clueless about the matches yourself. Roger didn't have three match points in that match. I am not surprised, you were the one who copy pasted an article that said Roger was leading two sets to nil in Wimbledon 2008 final. It was actually Rafa who was leading two sets to nil. You don't even know whether Rome 2006 final went five sets or not. Still you keep on ranting. I would suggest watch some matches before you comment

Have you ever seen a match of Roger? You speak so authentically but you are clueless about the matches yourself. Roger didn't have three match points in that match. I am not surprised, you were the one who copy pasted an article that said Roger was leading two sets to nil in Wimbledon 2008 final. It was actually Rafa who was leading two sets to nil. You don't even know whether Rome 2006 final went five sets or not. Still you keep on ranting. I would suggest watch some matches before you comment

Click to expand...

To paraphrase the guy in "Animal House" when John Belushi commented about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor: don't bother, he's rolling, lol...

Had Medvedev maintained the form of the first two sets (which was the form he'd been showing throughout the tournament) he would have won easily. But he didn't. Agassi won playing an inferior game to Medvedev's, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

The weather conditions played a factor in the different parts of the match. Medvedev dominated Agassi in the first 2 sets in heavy conditions, similar conditions to the Hamburg tournament that Medvedev won 3 times. From the third set onwards, the conditions started becoming drier and lighter, and Agassi started turning things around and eventually won.